Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies
Delivered in the British House of Commons on March 22, 1775, advocating for peaceful reconciliation with the American colonies through political concessions rather than military coercion.
Full Transcript
My hold of the colonies is in the close affection which grows from common names, from kindred blood, from similar privileges, and equal protection. These are ties which, though light as air, are as strong as links of iron.
The question with me is, not whether you have the right to render your people miserable; but whether it is not your interest to make them happy. It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.
Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together. Let us get an American revenue in an American way, by giving them the freedom that they demand.
Defining Key Excerpts
"Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together."
"The question with me is, not whether you have the right to render your people miserable; but whether it is not your interest to make them happy."
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